How to Keep Your VFD Leadership Organized with Trello (Part 1)

In any volunteer fire department, the leadership team is constantly juggling dozens of tasks. From small requests like “make a key for a new member” to major initiatives like “renovate the downstairs bunk room,” these items can quickly pile up. For our Executive Committee (EXCOM)—which consists of the President, Vice President, Chief, Assistant Chief, and Board Chairman—this challenge is amplified. We are all volunteers with demanding day jobs, so staying organized isn’t just a goal; it’s a necessity for making sure things don’t fall through the cracks.

This is a problem we solved with a simple yet incredibly powerful tool: Trello.

This article is Part 1 of a three-part series on how we use Trello to streamline our operations. Let’s start with the foundation: The Command Board.

For those unfamiliar, Trello is a visual collaboration tool that organizes your work and projects into boards. In one glance, Trello can tell you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. Think of it as a digital whiteboard covered in sticky notes, but supercharged with features.

We started with the free version of Trello, which is incredibly capable and worked perfectly for us for several months. We eventually upgraded to the Trello Premium plan to get access to more advanced features and add more users to our boards. My advice is to always start with the free plan and only upgrade when you discover a specific need for the extra capabilities.

We affectionately refer to our EXCOM Trello board as the “Command Board.” Just like an incident commander uses a command board to manage resources and assignments at a scene, we use our Trello board to manage the business of the department. It’s our single source of truth for every task, idea, and ongoing initiative.

Setting Up Your Command Board

The beauty of this system is its simplicity. Our board has five key lists (or columns) that track a task from idea to completion.

1. The “To Do” List This is the starting point for everything. Whenever a member of EXCOM has a new idea or gets a request, they are responsible for immediately creating a “card” in this list. Trello makes this easy; you can add a card from the web, the mobile app, or even by sending an email to a special address that automatically converts it into a card.

Examples of cards in our “To Do” list might include:

• Pay annual State Corporation Commission registration fee
• Look into new furniture for the day room
• Schedule annual pump testing

2. The “In Progress” List Our EXCOM meets virtually every two weeks with a simple goal: clear out the “To Do” list. During the meeting, we review each card, discuss it, and assign it to a specific person. Once that person begins working on the task, they move the card to the “In Progress” list. This provides instant visibility into who is working on what.

3. The “Waiting on Third Party” List This list is crucial for preventing bottlenecks. If we’re waiting on a price quote from a vendor, a decision from another committee, or any other external input, the card moves here. It keeps the “In Progress” list clean and focused only on tasks we can actively work on.

4. The “Complete” List The best list on the board. Once a task is finished, the card is moved here. It creates a running record of our accomplishments and provides a great sense of momentum.

5. The “Backlog” List Not every idea is urgent. The Backlog is for good ideas that we don’t have the time or resources to tackle right now. Moving a card here keeps the “To Do” list from getting cluttered with non-critical items. We can then revisit the Backlog every few months to see if priorities have changed. For example, one item in our Backlog is Rewrite uniform reimbursement policy. We know it needs to get done, but it’s not a high priority right now — so it moves to the Backlog.

The Result: Organized Leadership

By using this simple Command Board, our leadership team is more organized and accountable. Nothing gets forgotten and our meetings are incredibly efficient. But the real power comes from using Trello’s built-in features to their full potential. We can add checklists to cards to break down large projects into smaller steps, attach files like vendor quotes directly to a task, and assign due dates that trigger push and email notifications. We can even switch to a Calendar View to see all our important deadlines at a glance. We no longer have to rely on our memories to know what to work on and when. It’s a game-changer for volunteers who are juggling family, work, and the fire department.

In Part 2 of this series, I’ll show you how we took this concept a step further to build a fully automated system for managing facilities issues. Stay tuned.